VITA owners UNITE!

[kupomogli]

Unless things change (price cut, great exclusives) this may be Vita's last holiday season. I love the actual hardware, but console ports, a lack of exclusive killer apps, and shovelware along with a high price for hardware and memory cards isn't doing the system favors.

I'd say the criticism is largely warranted and I like Vita.

Most of these "console ports" you speak of aren't really "ports." They're multiconsole. When the game comes out at the same time, it's multiconsole. When it comes out afterwards. It's a port. The Vita has some ports for sure, but most of what everyone is calling ports aren't ports at all.

Also where is all this shovelware you speak of? There's no shovelware when it comes to retail releases and I don't know anyone who would expect most digital games to be worth a damn.

[duffmanth]

The $250 price of the Vita is fine by me, it's the price of the memory cards and lack of games that interest me personally that's keeping me from getting one right now.

[Bojay1997]

Most of these "console ports" you speak of aren't really "ports." They're multiconsole. When the game comes out at the same time, it's multiconsole. When it comes out afterwards. It's a port. The Vita has some ports for sure, but most of what everyone is calling ports aren't ports at all.

Also where is all this shovelware you speak of? There's no shovelware when it comes to retail releases and I don't know anyone who would expect most digital games to be worth a damn.

I think you don't understand the concept of a port. A port has less to do with timing of the release and more to do with the source material. There are many games that are available on multiple platforms that may share the same name and basic source material, but are in fact different games completely. There are also games that are ported from one platform to another but are released in close time proximity. A port is just an adaptation of a piece of software for a particular platform rather than starting completely from scratch. In this era, developers typically choose one platform as the lead and then use various middleware tools to port that code to the other platforms. ACIII on the Vita is not a port, it's a completely different game. Rayman Origins on the Vita is clearly a port. As such, there are quite a few "ports" on the Vita, although many of them have enhancements from the console or handheld software from which they have been adapted.

[RCM]

I think you don't understand the concept of a port. A port has less to do with timing of the release and more to do with the source material. There are many games that are available on multiple platforms that may share the same name and basic source material, but are in fact different games completely. There are also games that are ported from one platform to another but are released in close time proximity. A port is just an adaptation of a piece of software for a particular platform rather than starting completely from scratch. In this era, developers typically choose one platform as the lead and then use various middleware tools to port that code to the other platforms. ACIII on the Vita is not a port, it's a completely different game. Rayman Origins on the Vita is clearly a port. As such, there are quite a few "ports" on the Vita, although many of them have enhancements from the console or handheld software from which they have been adapted.

This too...

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I like my Vita a lot.

I think that the system is showing signs of getting out of a very prolonged first year full of growing pains.

Personally I've been playing it almost daily since they went live with PSOne classics (just using that as a jumping-off point for increased usage, I'm not strictly playing PSOne games on it, though I am doing that too).

I don't think that the future of the Vita is AS grim as some are presently predicting. I think Sony has a penchant for supporting hardware through lean LEAN times, and they'll figure something out for Vita in the future.

If this isn't occurring already behind the scenes with developers, I'm thinking that it might get some WiiU type functionality with PS3 games as an initiative once the WiiU launches, leading to Sony even having a PS3 bundle with a Vita.

Also, I don't even think it needs as much of a hardware price drop as it needs one for the proprietary memory cards.

I'm a very pro-digitial-download kinda guy and when I'm hampered by storage limitations on my device, I hesitate on spending money on digital content. If I could afford the larger memory cards, I'd spend more on the PSN store and even buy the full-fledged games digital at launch.

[kupomogli]

I think you don't understand the concept of a port. A port has less to do with timing of the release and more to do with the source material. There are many games that are available on multiple platforms that may share the same name and basic source material, but are in fact different games completely. There are also games that are ported from one platform to another but are released in close time proximity. A port is just an adaptation of a piece of software for a particular platform rather than starting completely from scratch. In this era, developers typically choose one platform as the lead and then use various middleware tools to port that code to the other platforms. ACIII on the Vita is not a port, it's a completely different game. Rayman Origins on the Vita is clearly a port. As such, there are quite a few "ports" on the Vita, although many of them have enhancements from the console or handheld software from which they have been adapted.

There are "ports" and "ports." Most PS3 games are 360 ports, yes, which you've explained, but what most people mean when they say "port" is just a rerelease. It's called a homonym.

[Bojay1997]

There are "ports" and "ports." Most PS3 games are 360 ports, yes, which you've explained, but what most people mean when they say "port" is just a rerelease. It's called a homonym.

I don't know about most people, but when the term "port" is used in the video game industry, it has a pretty specific meaning and it's not how you have defined it.

[kupomogli]

I don't know about most people, but when the term "port" is used in the video game industry, it has a pretty specific meaning and it's not how you have defined it.

Rarely does anyone use the term port for its intended purpose. It's very commonly used as rereleasing the game over on another console after its original release. Why the term "enhanced port" then, since additional content is added and it's not exactly a port then is it?

Even with all the shitty 360 to PS3 ports we get, people don't ever use the term port when describing a multiconsole game. It's always used about a game that is being ported over to a device at a later time.

The issue that happened with PSP is we got overrun with ports. It became very difficult for us to define what made PSP unique. The content development became a bit unstructured or decentralised, in that we got a lot of content that was on PlayStation 2 and got thrown over to the handheld

Seems like John Kohler's using the term just as I described it.

[Bojay1997]

Most of these "console ports" you speak of aren't really "ports." They're multiconsole. When the game comes out at the same time, it's multiconsole. When it comes out afterwards. It's a port. The Vita has some ports for sure, but most of what everyone is calling ports aren't ports at all.

Also where is all this shovelware you speak of? There's no shovelware when it comes to retail releases and I don't know anyone who would expect most digital games to be worth a damn.

You don't think games like Dungeon Hunter Alliance or Spy Hunter are shovelware? Admittedly the shovelware hasn't been as bad as the Wii or 3DS, but it's still there without a doubt.

[RCM]

Most of these "console ports" you speak of aren't really "ports." They're multiconsole. When the game comes out at the same time, it's multiconsole. When it comes out afterwards. It's a port. The Vita has some ports for sure, but most of what everyone is calling ports aren't ports at all.

Also where is all this shovelware you speak of? There's no shovelware when it comes to retail releases and I don't know anyone who would expect most digital games to be worth a damn.

Off the top of my head I would class stuff like Rayman Origins, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and Street Fighter X Tekken as ports. Solid games, but ports all the same (by your definition). I'd like exclusive stuff of the same quality, not ports.

I use shovelware as a broad term for product I simply don't like or don't find compelling. Shovelware is a subjective term anyway. Even the solid ports I mentioned fall into this to an extent in the sense that they aren't a compelling reason for *me* to own the system. I'm far from alone on that...